LINGUIST List 17.3544
Thu Nov 30 2006
Diss: Morphology/Syntax/Computational Ling: Gurevich: 'Construction...'
Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales
<hannahlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Olga
Gurevich,
Constructional Morphology: The Georgian version
Message 1: Constructional Morphology: The Georgian version
Date: 30-Nov-2006
From: Olga Gurevich <olyaberkeley.edu>
Subject: Constructional Morphology: The Georgian version
Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2006
Author: Olya Gurevich
Dissertation Title: Constructional Morphology: The Georgian version
Dissertation URL: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~olya/papers.htm
Linguistic Field(s):
Computational Linguistics
Linguistic Theories
Morphology
Syntax
Subject Language(s): Georgian (kat)
Dissertation Director:
James P Blevins
Sharon Inkelas
Johanna Nichols
Eve E Sweetser
Dissertation Abstract:
Linguistic theories can be distinguished based on how they represent theconstruction of linguistic structures. In 'bottom-up' models, meaning iscarried by small linguistic units, from which the meaning of largerstructures is derived. By contrast, in 'top-down' models the smallest unitsof form need not be individually meaningful; larger structures maydetermine their overall meaning and the selection of their parts. Manyrecent developments in psycholinguistics provide empirical support for thelatter view.
This study combines intuitions from Construction Grammar andWord-and-Paradigm morphology to develop the framework of ConstructionalMorphology. The proposed framework provides mechanisms for describing thefull range of regular, sub-regular and irregular patterns in languages withrich morphology and complex morphosyntax.
The thesis argues that morphological and morphosyntactic patterns should bedescribed using generalized form-meaning pairings (constructions), whichinclude semantic, syntactic, and morphological information in the samestatements. This top down approach also resolves some long-standing issuesin computational morphology.
The theoretical framework is illustrated through an analysis of Georgianmorphosyntax with a particular focus on version, originally amorphosyntactic marker of participant affectedness or salience. Versionrepresents a case of mismatch between form and function: the samemorphological resources can mark participant affectedness in someconstructions and unrelated categories in other contexts, such as voice,tense, and conjugation class. The syntactic function of version markers isin some contexts akin to an applicative, elevating an affected participantto a syntactic core argument, while in other instances they make nosyntactic contribution.
The theoretical framework, developed to capture the recurrent patterns ofGeorgian morphosyntax, is also applicable to general morphosyntacticdescription. An examination of version-like phenomena in several otherlanguages reveals that their description also depends on the largerconstructions of the particular language and should therefore be done inthe same 'top-down' approach.
The thesis concludes by exploring the consequences of Georgian-typepatterns for computational linguistics, which has traditionally assumedstraight compositionality. A computational model is proposed for parsingand generating Georgian verbal inflections based on example paradigms andconstructions at various degrees of generality.
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